Saturday update: The Ravens have made it official and listed Lamar Jackson as out for their Week 8 matchup with the Bears. The line has dropped from Ravens -7 to Ravens -1.5 and we could see that drop further. Tyler “Snoop” Huntley will get the start over Cooper Rush.
The Baltimore Ravens come into Week 8 with a 1-5 record and a slowly deteriorating hope for a playoff spot as two-time MVP Lamar Jackson nurses a hamstring injury. Early indications were that Jackson would be able to use the team’s Week 7 bye to get his hamstring healthy. Then, a full practice on Friday made it seem even more likely he would return. But now, reports that Jackson worked with the scout team on Friday, while Snoop Huntley worked with the starters, indicate that we’ll need to wait one more week for Jackson’s return, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
The Ravens were without Jackson for their last two games, giving backup Cooper Rush the starts. Unfortunately, Rush wasn’t up to the task, pushing Huntley into the backup role and now the starting role this week against the Bears.
Chicago comes into this matchup playing well. They started 0-2, but have now reeled off four wins. Their chances of making that five in a row just got much better. The Ravens defense has taken a nosedive this year, making their offense the key to pulling off wins. Hopefully Huntley can be an upgrade to Rush, who gave the offense little chance to succeed.
As for fantasy, Huntley isn’t going to elevate the offense like Jackson, so it is of course a downgradde for the offense as a whole. Derrick Henry should get plenty of work, but he’s much better with the threat of Jackson as a runner. The Bears defense is bad enough, and injured enough in the secondary, to keep Zay Flowers and possibly Mark Andrews as fantasy starts this week.
